A Fleeting Moment
by laurastalkingsurf
Summary: Just a fleeting moment between Mai and Zuko on a garage rooftop at sunset. To be safe, rated M for drug use. Modern AU.


**AN: Just a short little one shot I wanted to make. Based off of a true interaction (though I am NOT trying to encourage drug use).**

**The song referenced in this piece of called Port of Call by Beirut, though in the real interaction the song was The Peacock by Beirut. In case you wanted to listen. Which you should. Just listen to all of their songs-especially if you can find a nice grassy knoll at sunrise/sunset and some red wine (optional, of course). Absolutely perfect~**

**Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

"...You wanna smoke?"

Mai typed unassumingly on her Android, her long black nails tippy-tap-tapping incessantly, "Sure," she shrugged, keeping her eyes on the screen.

Zuko gazed at her, his eyes running across her long, dark eyelashes, her smooth, sharp cheeks, her red, thin lips, her stormy, pierc-

"HEY, WAKE UP!"

"Shit," Zuko grumbled, realizing how long he'd been idling at that green and stomping on the gas. They rode in stark quiet for a moment—Mai's was typing the only thing separating the young couple from total silence. "Aren't you gonna ask if I have any weed?" Zuko asked, hitting a hard left under the intersection.

"You wouldn't have offered if you didn't have any," Mai pointed out.

Zuko readjusted his hands on the pleather steering wheel. "Well, aren't you gonna ask where we're going?"

"Your place, I assumed," Mai said, finally setting her phone back into her brown leather bag.

"Nah," Zuko answered simply, his pouty lips curving into a small smile. Again he pulled another hard left across traffic and bounced up into the driveway of a short parking garage.

"Isn't this a little...public?" Mai asked.

"You'll see," He drove up and up all of the way to the roof of the garage and slid into a parking space on the building side. He parked the car quickly and told Mai to get out. She gave him an odd look but obeyed, slinking out of the passenger door in her long, black skirt and white floral tank. Even though it was well past five o'clock-nearly seven-she spotted a porky old man through his office window not a hundred feet from where she was standing jerking it off to some phone sex operator—she hoped. "Come over here," Zuko called. He was standing tall and lean in a pair of baggy jeans and an ironic snowman t-shirt over on the bayou side of the garage. Mai sauntered over.

"What's the big deal?"

"Just look,"

She leaned over the concrete barrier. The bayou actually looked...kind of pleasant in the twilight. The water glistened gently and moved freely to the west and the thick, green grass swayed in the breeze. Mai relaxed her shoulders and leaned against the barrier, a slight smile caressing her lips. Zuko wrapped a strong arm around her lithe frame and gave her a small squeeze.

"I'll roll," he offered. She nodded quietly and he kissed her softly on the cheek. He slipped back into his gold Honda Civic and popped open his glove compartment. Inside was a collection of Irish punk and new Appalachian folk CDs, a pack of tissues, a comb, and a sizeable silver box. He pulled out the box, set it on the console, and stuck the key in the ignition. After starting up the AC he pulled out a small plastic baggy from the box and moved one aromatic green nugget from the bag to a small pill crusher and ground it up fine. He poured the leaves into the pocket of a cigarette roller along with half a folded roach and gave the contents a few twists. Finally, he slipped in a paper, licked it twice, and rolled it tight. Popping open the roller he withdrew the joint and admired his work: "A little crooked," he whispered to himself, but shrugged and tossed everything back into the box and into the glove compartment with a loud pop.

Mai was right where he had left her when he returned. The sun, on the other hand, had dipped behind the office buildings and was starting to cast a pale pink glow across the sky.

"You want first?" Zuko asked, leaning over the barrier and offering her the joint. She gave him an unassuming smile, and as he gave it to her, he brushed a thick piece of floppy black hair out of his eyes.

"I don't remember you getting that," Mai noted, pointing at the wildly abstract and complex flame tattoo on the inside of Zuko's wrist. He turned his wrist and looked it over as Mai pulled a lighter out of her bag and attempted to start the joint.

"It's new," He admitted.

"I like it." She flipped the lighter a couple of times but before she could touch the flame to the twisted tip the flame went out, "D...damn it," she cursed under her breath, the pad of her thumb turning red from the friction. Zuko pulled her down into a crouch and cupped his hands around the lighter,

"Try it now." She stuck the joint in her mouth and snapped the lighter on, a bright flame setting the tip ablaze. She took a long, deep drag, falling on the hard concrete and leaning up against the wall. Again she dragged on the joint, and after inhaling the smoke, she passed it to Zuko, who tucked the joint in his mouth with one hand, and laced the fingers of the other with hers. They passed and passed in silence until the joint had nearly burned away. The sky was a deep shade of orange and a cool night breeze rattled the bayou behind them. Birds chirped softly, a frog croaked-Mai's eyes were half lidded and a lazy smile rested on her lips. She rested her head on Zuko's shoulder as he passed her the last hit. He caressed her soft skin with the back of his hand and kissed her long and gentle on her forehead. Mai crushed the joint on the concrete and tossed the soggy filter over the barrier without a second thought. She looked up at her boyfriend. His golden, bloodshot eyes peeked through his long shaggy hair and a stupid grin was plastered on his face. He leaned down to kiss her lips and nearly missed. They giggled, and Mai reached into her bag to pull out her phone and play some music-

"Wait, let me pick this time," Zuko insisted, ripping the phone out of her hands. Usually Mai would protest but for some reason she just couldn't bring herself to do it and just gave him a dumb grin.

The heart stopping and sense rendering sounds of glockenspiel and ukulele swirled through one of Mai's ears and out of the other, lifting her up from under the arms and spinning her on the tips of her toes. She stopped and swayed just in time to see Zuko, still on the ground, with his hand stuck out in the air. She grinned and pulled him onto his feet and into her arms and suddenly she was in his arms and he was spinning her and moving her from side to side and their noses were grazing and their mouths were trading hot, smoky breaths. She felt his smooth, plump lips clumsily brushing up against hers and, though everything about her contradicted it, she felt the sudden need to kiss him hard and full on the mouth. He kissed her back, dipped her like a rubber band, pulled her up to kiss her again, and then picked her up and latched her legs around his middle, spinning her around and around. He set her back down and they danced like that until the sky turned dark and starry and they fell from pure exhaustion on to the ground, just curled up in each other's warmth.

The moon was bright and infinite and Zuko could've sworn he saw an angel shoot across the sky. He rolled over to look at his girlfriend of four months and took her face in his hands.

"You're beautiful," he whispered.

"You, too," she whispered back.

And all of the sudden they were back in their car, the windows down, on the way back to Mai's to drop her off for the night. They stopped for two pints of ice cream at the Walgreen's and stopped a block away from Mai's driveway to kiss quietly in the moonlight for just a little longer. They snuck out of the car, hopped the iron fence behind Mai's house, snuck into her room through the oversized dog door, and watched Forest Gump, two spoons deep in Cherry Garcia, until three in the morning when they fell asleep in Mai's queen sized bed, arms wrapped tightly around each other, noses grazing, lips brushing.

It was all like one fleeting moment that left before it could really start as Zuko snuck out three hours later and Mai woke up to an empty bed five hours after that. But, Mai realized as she reached over and grabbed her phone from the bedside table, it was a fleeting moment they could catch again. A new text from Zuko read, "I love you, hun. Sleep late 3" Mai smiled and opened up her music player. She scrolled through and pressed her thumb to the screen and once again the tiny pings of a glockenspiel and the airy strums of a ukulele filled the sometimes frigid girl and nestled her in warmth and love. She bathed in the moment, and refused to let it go.


End file.
